Josai University Educational Corporation, the Hokkaido University Slavic Research Center, Sumitomo Chemicals Company, the Japan-Hungary Cooperation Forum and the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary compound in Tokyo, a HUNGARY CULTURE CENTER The agreement was signed by Chancellor Dr.Noriko Mizuta (Josai University Educational Corporation), Professor Osamu Ieda (Hokkaido University), Yoshitomo Tanaka (Japan-Hungary Friendship Association), Hiromasa yonekura (Sumitomo Chemicals) and Gyula Dabronaki (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary) on June 19 at the Sumitomo Chemicals Company Headquarters.

The Japan-Hungary Cooperation Forum was established according to the agreement signed in October 2004 between the then Prime Ministers Koizumi and Gyurcsany, as the first forum bringing together eminent persons from Japan and Hungary, a new EU member country. At forum meetings Japanese and Hungarian intellectuals are expected to debate economic, science and technology, R&D, culture, diplomacy, and security issues and each autumn the forum will make recommendations to the heads of both countries based on the result of such debates. Hungary has a history of producing quality personnel in a wide range of fields such as learning, the arts, and technology and has been attracting attention in recent years for its accession to the EU (in 2004) and for its high economic growth. Interaction with Japan is expected to exceed cultural and economic boundaries and increase more and more in the future.

The Hungary Culture Center aims at contributing to the mutual understanding between Japan and Hungary and to further exchange and development of each other’s culture and academia. Yoshitomo Tanaka, chairman of the Japan-Hungary Friendship Association, and former Ambassador to Hungary will serve the center as its first representative.

Through the cooperation of a wide range of experts from both countries, the Hungary Culture Center intends　to accumulate, consolidate and publish data and information related to Hungary and to transmit information through its website, as well as to plan and hold various kinds of events.

Josai University Educational Corporation expects the Center to become an important place for international exchange and the development of human resources.